Need help to decide on circumcision for my DS

Dear All,
My DS is in his 14th month now.
His tip of his penis used to swell a lil when he urinates...
He has never had any fever due to urinary infection.
Docs are suggesting us to let him undergo circumcision and are convincing us that its just a sanitation.
Me and my hubby are not able to come to a conclusion...
If any of u/ur kids have gone thru this, please pour in ur suggestions...

Thnaks,
Mia

Hi Mia,
Circumsition operation is absolutely safe.Nothing to worry about it.I know a child who was operated when he was 2 weeks old.Your doctor knows what is best for your child and so follow what they say.
Google Search for "PHIMOSIS" and you will get the informations you need.There are some videos too.

meena

Mia,
In general Western doctors advocate circumcision far more often than we do here in Inida. Balloning of foreskin is by itself not a sufficient indication for circumcision and you can be perfectly hygenic without having the foreskin cut off While it is a safe procedure I wouldnt do it just for what you have described.

Vanathi.

Originally Posted by MiaSen

Dear All,
My DS is in his 14th month now.
His tip of his penis used to swell a lil when he urinates...
He has never had any fever due to urinary infection.
Docs are suggesting us to let him undergo circumcision and are convincing us that its just a sanitation.
Me and my hubby are not able to come to a conclusion...
If any of u/ur kids have gone thru this, please pour in ur suggestions...

Thnaks,
Mia

Dont worry.He will be alright as he grow

Originally Posted by Aadhusmom

Mia,
In general Western doctors advocate circumcision far more often than we do here in Inida. Balloning of foreskin is by itself not a sufficient indication for circumcision and you can be perfectly hygenic without having the foreskin cut off While it is a safe procedure I wouldnt do it just for what you have described.

Vanathi.

I have to say I agree again completely with Vanathi.
DS has it too, the tip balloons a bit. We were told to ensure his penis remains dry and sometimes we clean him with a tissue without retracting the foreskin.
I find this site very useful in understandind the issues related to circumcision. DS had some ballooning and had one infection of the band right below the glans. DS was being potty trained at that point and was withholding going to the toilet a lot, sometimes peeing just a little and then stopping, without telling us he had peed. The band around the glans (I am not sure what it is called) had swollen up a bit.
We were told circumcision is an option for us, but our doctor basically gave us the freedom to choose the medical treatment we thought was best for our child. We obviously, after much back and forth, chose not to. Here is a link on hygiene that helped us decide against.

p.s. To Meenakshi: We were told that phimosis in infants is physiological, as in the infants/toddlers do not have retractile foreskin. The foreskin is retractable for most boys at around puberty. I was told there was a difference between physiolgoical phimosis and pathological. If there was no infection, there was nothing to worry. Repeated infections can be a cause for surgery. Please do let me know if your friend's child had infections. We would like to update our information as our child did have one UTI. Thanks.

Originally Posted by tikka

p.s. To Meenakshi: We were told that phimosis in infants is physiological, as in the infants/toddlers do not have retractile foreskin. The foreskin is retractable for most boys at around puberty. I was told there was a difference between physiolgoical phimosis and pathological. If there was no infection, there was nothing to worry. Repeated infections can be a cause for surgery. Please do let me know if your friend's child had infections. We would like to update our information as our child did have one UTI. Thanks.

Hi tikka,
The baby used to cry while urinating and it was frequent in little amounts.May be there was some infection-thats why doctors advised for circumsition.This was 20 years back.
Now,I see on the net some treatments without circumsition;don't know the success rate of it.
Love
Meena

Dear All,
Thanks for ur replies :)
For now we have decided to wait for another year...
Doc has suggested a cream ( nt sure if its steroid) which needs to be applied regularly on the tip of penis and has asked us to retract it a bit everyday - in few weeks the fore skin would seperate itseems...
We havent decided on this cream usage yet...

Also my son never cries while urinating - its just the tip balloning, otherwise he is normal and havent got any fever & infection coz of this so far...

Thanks

My son's tip also used to balloon before peeing and I was worried enough to take him to a pediatric urologist. He checked him out and gave the all-clear.

this is what he told us : with an uncircumcised penis, sometimes the urine collects and causes the ballooning. circumcision is an option but why put the baby through it?

we were told to apply hydrocortizone cream to his penis twice a day in a very tiny dab. doc also explained to us that the foreskin will loosen with time and told us to let our boy play with his penis if he wanted to which he has a habit of doing whenever diaper free. he yanks it this way and that and it looked quite painful. doc explained that if it pained him to do it he would not do it and all that playing was helping the foreskin to loosen up. well over a few months time of the cream we think the problem has decreased since the urine stream is now thicker than it was before and we can actually see the hole through which the urine comes out. before we were not able to see the hole.

bottom line : applying the cream has def. helped my son so I will heartily suggest the same for you.

I just wantto add something here..which may not be applicable to every body.
If me and my DH have IC continuosly 4-5 days without a break his penis starts giving him problems like he says he is having irritation there and we thought it is because of overactivity. few months before we went to see a urologist and when he saw his P he asked why the skin is looking so tight and strongly recommended circumcision. Now you can imagine adult circumcision is very painful and have some many stitches as well as for one months male have to take care that they should not be exited at all as that can cause the stitches to break (the extreme pain also helps them not to be exited) and the total healing time is 45 days on top of it it is embarassing when people around comes to know.
End result now after 6 months he is perfectly okay and his "P" is indeed very clean and not smelly at all and from all the trauma he underwent i have made my mind that if ever god bless me with a baby boy we will get him circumcised no matter what other says as for infants it is a relatively small procedure unlike for adults.
Again it is only my view point.
Thanks.

Originally Posted by MiaSen

For now we have decided to wait for another year..Doc has suggested a cream ( nt sure if its steroid) which needs to be applied regularly on the tip of penis and has asked us to retract it a bit everyday - in few weeks the fore skin would seperate itseems...
We havent decided on this cream usage yet...

MMM... I am really unsure about retracting an unretracted foreskin. All I have read clearly tells me is that a no no, at any cost. I will second Pooja's PMAHENSA suggestion of ointment and letting the child play with his penis. Steroid creams are safe. DS is on it for eczema, we use it intermittently and hydrocortisone 1 percent can be safely used with even infants.
bfp2010: I hate to break it to you that infant circumcision is just as painful. Having had a few issues ourselves about UTI, both adult and child, I can see why you think routine circ is a good idea. But your husband had a medical issue that needed correction, your son MAY NOT. Good luck with TTC.